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Saturday, May 23, 2015

Mike Trout was called out at third base after a wild "Matrix-like" slide, but had the call reversed after the manager's challenge. The Angels ended up scoring 9 runs in 39 minutes during the fifth inning. It was incredible.

For the first time in a while, the Red Sox moribund offense wasn’t the main concern last night at Fenway Park.

Instead the starting pitching took the top spot on the list of worries, as righty Rick Porcello couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning in a 12-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Sox’ third straight loss and fourth in their past five games.

The Angels offense entered the game ranked 14th in the American League, worse than the 12th-ranked Sox. But Los Angeles scored nine runs in the fifth inning after Porcello walked the first two batters and the Angels ran away from there.

“I just walked those two guys in the fifth. That hurt. … Those two walks and then not being able to get out of that was the difference,” Porcello said. “So I take full responsibility for the loss today. That was completely on me and I’ve got to be better.”

Albert Pujols got the Angels on the board in the fourth with a laser beam solo homerun, and Marc Krauss was able to drive in a run a few batters later with a fielder’s choice. Those are both amazing things, but we don’t need to talk about that right now. We need to talk about that fifth. That 37 minute long, NINE runs scored fifth inning...just to put a point on it. We’ve seen their pitiful run differential numbers this past week, and this game will hopefully serve as a harbinger of a 180 degree turn about to happen; an antidote to the one run nailbiter disease they’ve been infected with in the month of May. There was everything you could possibly want out of an Angels baseball game. You got the rare Chris Iannetta moonshot homer. You got to point and laugh as recent Cuban call-up Rusney Castillo dropped a routine fly ball, allowing a run. You got to see Erick Aybar hit a dinger of his own, and then you watched as he circled the bases, smiling ear to ear as Albert Pujols went crazy in the dugout. You saw Mike Trout, Kole Calhoun and David Freese all drive in runs. You even saw Matt Joyce have a good game! It was heaven on Earth. But above all that, you saw something that you still don’t believe happened. Mike Trout, attempting to steal third base, was basically gunned down; 100% dead to rights. Mike Trout, seeing the tag coming from Brock Holt, entered into Matrix bullet-time mode, did a swim move OVER the tag, twisted his torso a bit, completely and inexplicably avoiding the tag all while keeping his foot on the bag. Unreal. All told, the fifth inning saw the Angels put up nine runs, six hits, two walks and a dumptruck full of Schadenfreude.

That was easily the best inning of baseball we’ve watched all year, and it came against a dream punching bag opponent. The Angels did let the Red Sox into the game a tad, as Richards ended up allowing 5 runs over six innings and had to be pulled for Jose Alvarez. So perhaps this game wont help the run differntial bottom line all that much in the end, but that’s not enough to sour the sweet taste of those Red Sox Nation tears. I don’t know if this game is a sign of things to come, but right now, I don’t care. The Angels came into Fenway, laid a monster beating on Boston, and Mike Trout bent space and time to the deliver the thrills that pay the bills. That’s all that matters right now.